Off-highway machines, such as, for example, dump trucks, are typically used to transport a payload material, such as, for example, rock, sand, dirt, or gravel, from one location to another. According to a particular work cycle, the dump truck may use a dump body to receive a portion of the payload material and transfer the received portion of payload material to another location. According to this work cycle and others, it may be desirable to calculate the weight, or mass, of the payload material that is moved within or transported from a work site. This payload weight calculation may be used to evaluate efficiency, productivity, and profitability of the work site operations.
Some onboard payload material weight calculation strategies for these types of machines include measuring suspension strut pressures of the truck and using a combination of formulas and empirical data to calculate the payload weight. For instance, co-owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,712 to Kyrtsos et al. teaches a dynamic payload monitor with the capability of measuring the compression condition of the four struts of the truck while the truck is in motion, in order to produce an even more accurate measurement than that likely possible when the truck is in a stationary position. These strut pressure strategies can typically produce payload weight accuracies on the order of plus or minus 5%. However, there is an ever increasing demand for improved accuracy with respect to payload weight measurement systems.
The present disclosure is directed to one or more of the problems or issues set forth above.